To Be A True Master part 5
by B. Juster II
Summary: The (long) story of a new pokemon trainer, his quest for a legendary evil that he released, and all his adventures along the way


  
  
  
  
TO BE A TRUE MASTER - THE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Part 11. The Hard Road to Cerulean (Continued)  
  
  
  
  
  
"Haaaaugh..."  
"zzzzzz...."  
"Pheeeeeee...."  
I tossed and turned in my sleeping bag later on, trying to get sleep through the snoring of Jessie, James and Meowth. Lark was perfectly quiet on the other side of the crackling fire, and I suspected she was not asleep. Finally I decided to stay up until not even Jessie, James and Meowth could keep me awake.  
That took a long time. I sat on a log beside the fire for thirty minutes, glaring at the three criminals, fuming silently. My eyes occasionally drifted to Lark, who slept facing the log I sat on. I sighed, looking at her pretty face. She seemed strange.... Always quiet, and surprised whenever I was nice to her, like when I gave her that eevee, and saved her pokemon from that Rocket. Other than that, like any girl, she thought Pikachu was the cutest thing she's ever seen. I chuckled as I thought about Pikachu. If I ever wanted to be a girl magnet, all I had to do was carry the little mouse out in open view.  
As I looked over Lark, I noticed Pikachu curled up in her arms, sleeping peacefully, both of them smiling. The little traitor. If they were trying to prove a point they were failing miserabl.... Okay, so they had my sympathy, and my consent to the question Lark had been hinting at all day. I sighed, resting my chin on my hand and watching the two.  
As always must happen when you stare at someone too long, Lark realized it and woke up. "Hi," she said with a cheerful smile. "You're up awfully late." She stood up gently so as not to wake up Pikachu and sat down beside me on the log.  
"Yeah, well with the beautiful sounds of nature tonight, who could sleep?" I asked. As if to prove my point, James suddenly let out a long burp, then rolled over and started snoring louder than ever.  
"So what're you planning on doing with your pokemon life?" I asked, staring into the small fire.  
Lark lazily stirred the flames with a long stick. "Well, I started out just cause I liked pokemon, and I was going to look for some friends. After I got my starting pokemon from the professor in my town, I set out just to join up with someone, help them out or observe them," she looked over at me with a mock sad expression. "And it was my misfortune to meet up with you and your unbearably cute Pikachu."  
I laughed and pushed her off the log gently. "I'll tell ya what," I saidm helping her back on the log. "If you stay and help me stay out of trouble, I'll let you have Pikachu."  
Lark's jaw dropped open, but I could see she was just acting. She had obviously been trying for and expecting it. "ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!" Lark babbled joyfully, tears welling up in her eyes.   
"Well, shucks, it ain't the-" I began, but Lark didn't let me finish. Still babbling thanks, she hugged me tightly, crying happily into my shoulder.  
"It just needs a good trainer who'll take care of it," I said quietly, yet still allowing her to hold onto me.  
"Unfortunately, there's a catch," I said nervously, then went into the story about Ultrareon.   
A thoughtful expression crossed Lark's face, then she smiled. "I'll stay with you," she said.   
I opened my mouth to speak again, but was rudely interrupted by a squeal from the other side of the fire. Lark and I turned and froze. A small jigglypuff, holding a black marker stood beside Pikachu, smiling. "What the heck is he doing this far-"  
"Jiiiglllyypuuuff.... jigglllyypufff.... jigggllllyy....." That was the last thing I heard.  
It was not the coming of noise but the absence of it that woke me up the next morning, or should I say, afternoon, as I woke up near 2 o clock. When Jessie and James's snoring stopped, my head shot up from a deep sleep. I immediately noticed that I was in a rather compromising place. Lark had obviously fallen asleep with me when that Jiiglypuff sang, the evidence being that she was sleeping with her head on my shoulder, each of us supporting the other.   
"Aaaahem!" I looked up, and Lark woke up too, but her head remained on my shoulder as she tried to recognize her surroundings.  
Jessie stood with hands on hips across the smoldering fire, glaring. "Allright, time to wake up lovebirds," she said irritably.  
Lark and I both turned dark red, quickly standing up and jumping to pack up our supplies. Needless to say, both of us finished breakfast rather quickly.   
Within an hour, our whole party was up and ready to go. Pikachu was overjoyed that Lark was his new Pokemon trainer, and he adopted her backpack as his new home.  
"Hey kid, halt!"  
About eight minutes into our pleasant walk to Cerulean city came the obnoxious cry.  
A boy about 12 years old came up behind us, obviously just having gone through Mount Moon. "You gahs got pokemon?" he asked with a heavy southern-american accent.  
"Yeah," I said, stopping and turning to face the three.  
"Great," said the boy. "Mah name's James Garner, and yer in fer a tough Pokemon battle, let's go!"  
I started to protest, then realized my pokemon could use some experience, as I did not have a pokemon that was strong against the Cerulean Gym's water pokemon.  
"Allraht! Geodude, go!"  
Donning a solemn expression, I kissed my pokeball, then hurled it. "Okay, then I choose you, Vaporeon!"  
"Geodude!"  
"Vape!"  
"Geodude, Tackle!"  
"Vaporeon, sand attack."  
A blinding swirl of sand blasted into geodude's vision and I felt rather sorry for the rock type as it smashed back and forth, felling trees and disentegrating rocks, but never hitting Vaporeon. "Okay, finish it off, super water gun!" I yelled.  
Through the sand wave, a wave of water came, blasting geodude back to his trainer's pokeball. The boy smirked, but not arrogantly. "Allraht, raticate, ah choose you!"  
"Raaaaticate!" the tenacious little pokemon spat out. Before I could even yell out an attack to Vaporeon, Raticate leapt forward, as if knowing a routine. My Vaporeon screamed, thrashing as Raticate came down on it with a violent Hyper Fang. 'Only got one more attack before Vaporeon's down, better weaken Raticate, don't try for a KO, just prep him for the next pokemon.'  
"Okay, Vaporeon, Tail Whip!"  
Vaporeon's scaley tail lashed around, knocking Raticate back and shaking him up. A hard tackle from Raticate and I was forced to recall my tired Vaporeon. 'Don't wanna do overkill by using Charcloy, and my other pokemon need experience, so-' "Go Pidgeotto!"  
"Dgeotto!" Pidgeotto knew what to do and immediately shot into the air, barely dodging Raticate's fierce tackle. "Pidgeotto, whirlwind!"  
Pidgeotto flapped his wings mightily, and the gust attack times two began. Raticate hedld its ground for several seconds, clenching its eyes closed. Then, when it seemed that Pidgeotto could not hold the whirlwind any longer, Raticate was swept up into the air, falling dangerously.  
"You'd better recall your Raticate, he could get hurt in that fall," I said, watching the little pokemon soar higher into the air.  
"Jest watch," James said.   
Pidgeotto looked up, then shrieked, but it was too late. Raticate fell onto Pidgeotto, pulling it down with him. Both fell to the ground, thudding violently as they hit. It was an instant double knockout. I recalled Pidgeotto, James did the same with his Raticate.   
"Your Raticate's brave, you must have trained him well," I said with a short laugh.  
"Yeah, well southern boys always fight, and train better than Yanks," James said with a cheerful smile. "Guess ah'll be seein' you, Billy Yank," he said, saluting me then melting away into the forest.  
I walked on down the road beside Lark, chuckling quietly. "What's so funny?" Lark asked.  
"I always heard about those Southern Americans being tough fighters, I guess it was true, he knocked out two of my pokemon with rather weak types," I said.  
"Halt!" I heard a voice yell.   
"Oh great," I groaned, then turned. A boy dressed almost completely in blue walked out from behind a boulder, rather arrogant looking actually.  
"I challenge you to a two-pokemon battle. And I, Ulysses Simpson Winfield Scot hereby declare that I will defeat any Rebels that dare come across this path-"   
"Allright!" I yelled. "What is it with Rebels and Yankees here," I yelled, frustrated at the boy's bragging.  
He sniffed, dusting off his shoulder. "This is the road to Bill's lighthouse, and there're lots of trainers on their way there or back, and most of them are either from the North or South United States," he said, then lifted his head proudly. "And we're all Civil War fanatics, we're having a pokemon war!"  
"Oh...." I said.   
"And you, boy," Ulysses said with a growl. "Are in the middle of our battleground, so prepare to turn and run!"  
"I liked the Rebel more," I said, drawing out a pokeball. "He was a lot more polite, and I accept your challenge!"  
"I choose the sophisticated and classic Abra," Ulysses said, hurling the pokemon into action.  
'His "sophistication" is going to be his downfall,' I thought. "Okay, go Nidoking!"  
"Nidoking, Mega Punch!"  
"Abra, teleport," Ulysses said smugly.  
Nidoking leapt forward and swung his paw, missing as Abra disappeared. Nidoking chuckled, then turned and hurled a heavy punch at thin air. Just hen, Abra appeared in that spot. Abra's eyes widened, and a moment later he slid down the dirt road twenty feet, twitching, then slumping to a little ball.  
"Abra return, go Staryu, spinning tackle!"  
Staryu screamed in at Nidoking, and just as he was about to him, Nidoking lashed his tail around, deflecting the blow and knocking Staryu to the ground, little or no harm done to either pokemon. Both pokemon pulled themselves together quickly.  
"Staryu, swift!"  
"Nidoking, Focus Energy!"  
Nidoking curled in on himself and began to glow. Stars shot from Staryu, bouncing off of Nidoking's armorred hide and causing very little damage.  
"Now, finish it off with a Horn Drill!"  
"Nidooookinng!"  
Nidoking jumped forward, bashing his horn into Staryu, the attack power increased by his focus energy.  
Staryu jumped up down the road, and began to waddle forward. Then, as Nidoking stared him down, the water pokemon wavered on one fin, then collapsed.  
"Nidoking, return," I said, then walked calmly down the road. Ulysses literally pitched a fit, jumping up and down furiously, yelling at his fainted Staryu. The next three hours went that way. What was usually a forty minute walk to Bill's lighthouse took us three hours, as the road was strewn with trainers who I soon began to adress as 'Rebs' and 'Yanks.'  
I found that the Rebel kids were a lot nicer, and fought better, in fact by the end of the hour, the Rebs were responsible for the fainting of my Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Vaporeon and Zubat. Only one Yank had fared well enough to knock out my weak doduo. Nidoking survived the battles, but was battered. I also noticed that the 'Rebs' semed to use a lot of fire and electric pokemon, while the 'Yanks' used water and grass. It appeared the Yanks were arrogant idiots, while the Rebs were tough scrappers.  
"Finally," I gasped as I beat the last Reb, who saluted politely and walked off down the road, hands stuck deep in his pockets. Five minutes later I was standing at the door to Bill's lighthouse, ringing the doorbell.  
"Who's there?" asked a normal, un-accented voice from the other side of the door.  
"I'm Jack Soniq, and I have to talk with you. Believe me when I say it is VERY important," I said in a dead serious voice.  
I heard a sigh from the other side of the door, then it opened just enough to let me in. An intelligent-looking man in a white lab coat, looking to be in his mid or late thirties stood there, then turned and walked into a room, obviously meaning for us to follow.  
I immediately ran to catch up with him, and after a little hesitation, Lark, James, Jessie and Meowth followed me.  
Bill sat down in a chair in front of a computer and glared. "This had better be good, all I've had all day are kids pestering me about pokemon, so I'm pretty tired."  
"Well, sir," I said nervously, wondering if he would get angry about my having done what I did. "I, umm, kinda well, I kinda maybe possibly through an accident.... brought Ultrareon back to life...."  
Bill frowned at me for a moment, then his glare and thoughtful frown disappeared and he turned white. "Oh.... Dang....." he said, melting into his chair.  
"What I need help with is finding the three original stones," I said, sitting down in a chair across from Bill. "They all shot off when I evolved him, and it'd be impossible to find three small stones in all of Pokemon Island."  
"Yes," Bill said, still looking scared.  
"Why're YOU looking so scared, we're the ones that have to follow this thing!" James whined.  
Bill stood up, then walked over to a wall in his lab that he had made sure no lights hit. The shadows covered a door, which had no knob. Bill pressed a section of the wall, and it slid open, revealing a dusty staircase that wound down into the ground. Motioning for us to follow, Bill rapidly trotted down, the stairs ringing and banging with all of our footfalls.   
After three of four minutes or spiraling, my head was doing the same thing, but luckily we reached the end. Jessie, James and Lark were so dizzy that they all crashed down on top of me, and we fell into a pile on the stone floor. A small lightbulb dangling from the ceiling flipped on, and a simple pedestal stood in the center of the small room we stood in.  
On the pedestal, a golden ball sat, apparently unaffected by dust or time. Bill gulped and picked up the ball, his hand shaking noticeably. "Ladies and gentleman," he said, regaining his composure. He thrust the ball forward proudly, and I jumped back at the sudden movement. "Meet.... ULTRAREON!"  
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Part 12.The Stone Locator and the Cerulean Gym  
  
  
  
  
I gasped, staggering back in surprise. "Holy smokes Bill, ya wanna get us all killed, lock that thing up and throw it into space!" I shouted.  
Bill held the pokeball tighter to himself. "This was the first Ultrareon. And believe it or not, I was the one who brought him to this world."  
I stared in shock at him. "But.... How?"  
Bill sat down on the pedestal and held the golden ball as if it were a prized possession. "25 years ago, when I was 13 years old, I dreamed of becoming the world's greatest scientist, and creating an all new pokemon. So, when I caught an eevee one day, I spent almost two years finding all three stones to use on it. Evolution stones were horribly rare back then. Then I used the stones on Eevee, and he evolved into Ultrareon. In the resulting battle, he killed my friends, and nearly killed me.  
"Then, he flew off and hid in some mountains, occasionally leaving the haven to make raids on villages, and once he tried to start a Pokemon uprising. But I was there to stop him every time, using a pokemon which I cannot reveal, as it is top secret information. It took me two years, but using that pokemon, I found all three stones, and in a violent battle that destroyed an entire town, I de evolved him with the stones.  
"When the Eevee was released from the spirit, it was just the same as before. Except it lost all of its attacks, and can never learn anymore. And he also gained the ability to locate evolution stones that have been used on an Ultrareon. And he can also locate stones that have been used on the same Ultrareon, which is why I have saved him, in case some stupid trainer decides he wants to test out all three stones on an eevee," Bill glared at me.  
"Nice going, stupid," Meowth said bitterly behind me.  
Bill activated the pokeball, and all of us but Bill shrank back, somehow expecting the towering Ultrareon creature to appear. Instead, a cute little eevee came out, identical to a normal eevee except the fact that it had a red, yellow and blue gym on his forehead. "This is the original eevee," Bill said, then recalled eevee. "I'm lending him to you, but be careful, for he's the only one who can locate those evolution stones."  
"Right," I said, tucking the gold pokeball into my backpack. "And.... Thanks, Bill," I said, then turned to follow my friends up the stairs.  
  
When I stepped outside Bill's lighthouse's door, it was almost pitch black. "Dangit," I snapped angrily, then turned back in.   
"You'll be wanting to stay here tonight," Bill said. "The guest room is ready, but you'll have to leave early in the morning, don't give Utrareon a second more than you have to."  
I nodded tiredly and thanked him, entering the room without conversation.   
"Oh, yes Bill, I almost forgot!" I said as I popped out of the room. "I have a pokemon you might like to study!"  
Bill frowned. "What is it?"  
"My Charcloy," I said with a proud grin.  
Bill choked, and stood there gasping and trying to talk but failing and only looking like a dying Magikarp. I tossed him Charcloy's pokeball. "Take good care of him," I said.  
Bill nodded vigorously and clutched the pokeball tightly to himself, his eyes bugging out. He then rushed off down a hall like a kid at a party.  
Jessie, James, Lark, Meowth and me slept fitfully that night, packed into the small room. Or at least Jessie and Lark did, since they got the only two beds, leaving the boys of our group to the cold metal floor, tamed only by thick blankets.  
  
I woke up at dawn the next morning, and not of my own free will either. It was by Bill's insistent poking and prodding that I was brought back from the comforting warmth and darkness of sleep. "Common, common boy, no time to lose, let's get a move on it, you don't have all century to get rid of Ultrareon!"  
I growled and sat up, throwing the blankets off of my body and instantly regretting it as waves of cold morning air washed over me. "Here," Bill said, thrusting a green and white pokeball into my hands. "I thought Charcloy might like sommore room, so I transferred him to an Ultra Ball."  
"Thanks," I said, clipping the Ultra Ball to my belt and walking around the room to wake everyone. When I got to Jessie, I shook her gently. A hand shot out from under the covers, grabbing me by the shirtcollar and yanking me down to face its owner, a flaming mad Jessie. "If you EVER try to wake me up before ten o-clock in the morning, I'll murder you," she snarled, then tossed me back.  
James laughed as he folded up his sleeping bag. "Jessie's not a morning person," he said with a grin.  
I straightened my shirt collar, still a bit shaken by the incident. "I could tell."  
Twenty minutes later, after Bill had given us a quick breakfast, our party started out again, trekking cheerfully down the road. Halfway to Cerulean, in fact I could see the Gym in the distance, who should we encounter, but the Rebs and Yanks, on either side of the road, yelling insults at each other. Occasionally one of them would throw a pokemon, then a short scuffle would ensue, before both pokemon were called back.  
I had had enough of this. "CHARCLOY, I CHOOSE YOU!"   
Towering fully 45 feet high, the impressive black fire pokemon struck fear into the hearts of its enemies, heck, even into the hearts of the two fighting groups. The Yanks yelped and cowered back, while the Rebs just stepped back in awe and momentary shock.  
Charcloy roared, sounding like a dinosaur, and breathed flames into the sky. I stepped out in front of Charcloy, glaring around me. "Okay, now you guys were fighting all day yesterday and who knows how long before that, you wasted my entire day yesterday, and your constant fighting is only disrespectful to you pokemon, now if I don't see some cooperation RIGHT NOW then Charcloy's gonna have some NEW CHEW TOYS," I holloered, quivering in anger.  
"Psst!" I turned furiously to Lark, who walked over to me quickly. "Jack," she whispered fiercely. "You're never going to make them cooperate by scaring them to death, just look at them!"  
I looked over at the Yanks, and saw that several lay on the ground in a comical spread-eagled faint. The Rebs were crouching behind boulders, fingering pokeballs, and several were defiantly trying to go face Charcloy, being held back only by their comrades.  
Lark pushed me away gently and stepped out between the two groups. "Okay guys, now why are you fighting?" she asked calmly.  
Immediately a chorus of chatterings and accusations exploded forth. "ONE AT A TIME," I belted out, then pointed to a Yank who appeared to be the leader of their group. The boy sniffed and stepped forward. "That one," he said, pointing at the apparent leader of the Rebs as if accusing of murder. "He attempted to mortally cripple me!"  
The accused boy jumped forward furiously. "Ah stepped on yer foot by accident in a pokemart!"  
"And then you punched me!" the Yank wailed.  
"Cuz you called me a dumb Rebel, then you insulted the south! And ah have yet to see the day when a southerner takes an insult from a Billy Yank!"  
The Yank sniffed and held his head imperiously in the air. I shook my head, then walked slowly over to the Yank. "Okay, the North is a hive of scum and villainy, and Grant and Sherman wore women's clothes," I said simply, then turned away from the shocked boy and ran over to the Rebs.  
I stepped on the leader's foot, hardly hurting him, and he stared at me like I was crazy. "WHAM!" I slammed my fist into his gut, and he fell back, in more shock than pain. "Why ah oughta!" he yelled, jumping at me.  
"Now you guys are even," I said, skippin out of the Reb's reach. "I suggest you not continue this war, because when I get into Cerulean City, I'm going to ask the police to check out this area! And if they find out you've been using your Pokemon for personal vengeance, you'll have your trainer's licenses taken away!"   
With that last parting yell, I recalled Charcloy, then jogged down the road to Cerulean City, Jessie, James, Meowth and Lark giving last parting comments to the two stunned groups of Americans before catching up with me.  
Twenty minutes later, we thankfully made it to Cerulean City, and I was ready to get my next badge from the famous Cerulean Sisters.   
  
  
To Be Continued.....  
  
  
Send all feedback to brenndon_juster@hotmail.com and please do send feedback, I'd like to know if anybody likes my story, it's only a two minute message to me! Brenndon Juster II 


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